MLP: FiM--Owls Well That End's Well (Alternate Version)
by MontyCS
Summary: An alternate telling of the episode "Owl's Well That Ends Well". When Twilight Sparkle hires a new "junior assistant", Spike begins to fear that he's being replaced... Author's Note: I do not claim ownership of MLP: FiM or any of it's characters. This fanfic is purely for fun.


**My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic**

Owl's Well That End's Well (Alternate)

It was nighttime once again in Ponyville, but tonight was going to be a night unlike any other. A meteor shower was going to take place in one hour, and it had been the talk of the town for the past several days.

Nopony however, was more excited than Twilight Sparkle. Thoughts of the upcoming meteor shower had kept her awake at night all week long. Now it was finally here, and she couldn't contain her excitement.

"This meteor shower tonight is going to be amazing!" Twilight said as Spike placed a telescope inside a red cart.

"Awesome!" he said, jumping on a hanging fruit basket, and grabbing three bananas.

"You know, this shower only happens once every 100 years." Twilight continued.

"A centennial celebration!" Spike said, juggling a few apples before ramping them into the wagon with his tail.

Twilight nodded "We'd better get a move on!"

"Don't wanna be late!" Spike agreed as he wobbled over to the wagon carrying a full punch bowl. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Thankfully, despite losing his balance a few times, he was able to get the punch into wagon without spilling any of it. "There", he sighed in relief.

"Spike, did you grab my quill and ink?" Twilight asked.

"Check!" Spike replied.

"Scrolls?" Twilight asked.

"Check!" Spike replied again, "I've also packed a telescope, apples, bananas, fruit punch, and my freshly baked homemade triple-decker nut-crazy vanilla cream cookies!"

Twilight couldn't help but giggle as Spike munched down on one of the cookies, getting crumbs all over his face. "I can see that. Once again you've read my mind, Spike. And that is why, you, are my number one assistant."

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear you." Spike replied, pretending he hadn't heard.

"That is why, you, are my number one assistant.", Twilight repeated.

"Missed that! Huh...?" Spike continued to tease.

"I said..." Then Twilight realized that Spike was just playing with her and turned to face him. "Come on, let's get going.", she giggled.

Suddenly, Twilight remembered something. "Wait! I almost forgot! I wanna bring the Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac to All Things Astronomy."

"The Astronomo-lomo homono what?" Spike asked, confused.

"You know that really old big blue book on stars, moons, planets, the universe...?" Twilight explained.

"Oh, right. Check!" Spike replied, and rushed into another room, where he quickly found the book Twilight had mentioned on one of top shelves. Noticing that it was very dusty, Spike tried to wiped the book off, when he suddenly felt the urge to sneeze as the dust got up his nose. "Ah... Ahh... Ahhh... Ahhhh...!" Suddenly, the urge went away, and Spike let out a sigh of relief as he opened the book. But no sooner had he done do...

"AAHH-CHOOO!" Spike let out a huge sneeze, causing a gout of green flames to shoot out of his mouth. Opening his eyes, Spike was horrified to see that he'd accidentally burned the pages to a crisp.

To make matters worse, he heard Twilight call "Hey, what's taking my number one assistant so long?"

Spike began to panic; how was he going to explain this to her? Desperate, and not really thinking, Spike placed the ruined book back on the shelf, and headed back to Twilight. "I'll just tell her that I couldn't find it.", he said to himself, "What Twilight doesn't know can't hurt her."

Little did Spike realize, he couldn't hide what happend forever...

* * *

(Theme Song)

* * *

"I was sure I put the astronomer's guide back." Twilight said, as they made their way up to the top of a hill where everyone was gathering to watch the meteor shower. "The book would have helped me identify different planets and stars tonight."

"Well... Maybe someone borrowed it?" Spike lied, "Besides, you don't need that book. You can already name all the planets and stars, 'cause you're super smart and astronomically awesome!"

"Thanks, Spike. You're such a flatterer." Twilight complimented.

"What can I say? I'm a sweet talker." Spike replied

"And a number one assistant, right." Twilight said sweetly.

"Check." Spike replied, and promptly getting to work setting up the blanket, a the bowl of fruit, the punch bowl, and some cups.

It was at the moment when the rest of their friends arrived. Rainbow Dash wasted no time munching on an apple, as Spike set up the telescope. "Wow, Twilight! You're lucky to have such a rad assistant." she said, in between bites of her apple. " I wish I had someone to do whatever I told them."

"Ooh! Ooh! Me! Me! Me!" Scootaloo said excitedly, bouncing up and down, "I'll do whatever you want, Rainbow Dash!"

"Oh yeah, pipsqueak?" Rainbow Dash asked, dropping her apple core on the ground, "How about taking out the trash?".

"Yes ma'am!" Scootaloo replied, before eagerly snatching up the apple core in her mouth, and zooming away.

"Do we have Spike to thank again for this amazing spread?" Rarity asked, smiling at the picnic that he'd set up. "Isn't he simply amazing?"

"Oh, come on." Spike replied, blushing.

"Little Spikey-wikey!" Pinkie Pie cooed, giving him a hoof noogie, "Who knew that big ferocious dragon started off so cutesy wootsy?"

"Spike, you are such a little star that I had to make a little bow tie for you." Rarity spoke up, using her magic to give Spike a bowtie with multicolored gem stones stiched into it.

"Gosh. You guys are embarrassing me. Stop it." Spike said, but deep down, he was loving all the attention.

"Spike, that's enough." Twilight said somewhat sternly.

"Oh, right. That's enough." Spike said sheepishy.

"Hey, everypony! The show is starting!" Sweetie Belle announced, pointing up at the sky.

There was a mad dash of hooves as everypony raced to the top of the hill, and Sweetie Belle had to avoid getting run over before catching up with the others. She and Apple Bloom climbed onto their sisters backs to get a better view, while Scootaloo found a spot next to her idol, Rainbow Dash, much to her delight. Before long, countless meteors were streaking across the night sky.

"Wow, that's amazing! It's really cool. Once!", the other ponies exclaimed as they watched the amazing spectacle.

Spike was seated on Twilight's back as they enjoyed the meteor shower together. But as the show went on, he began to feel very sleepy, and yawned as he tried very hard to stay awake.

Once the meteor shower had ended, the ponies sat at the picnic blanket, talking excitedly about the incredible phenomenon they had just witnessed, and enjoying the snacks that Spike had packed.

"Mmm. Wow! These cookies are delish!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, her face full of crumbs.

"Spike made them." Twilight replied, "Speaking of which, Spike, can you bring us some punch?"

But Spike did not reply.

"Spike?" Twilight called out again, but then she heard what sounded like snoring. She looked down, and saw that Spike had fallen asleep in the empty punch bowl of all places, his breath fogging up the glass.

"Oh, poor little thing." Rarity said softly; he was so cute when he was asleep.

"Aww... He's worked himself to the bone." Twilight added.

"And now the punch has been... 'spiked'!" Pinkie Pie joked. Everypony laughed.

* * *

Taking Spike home, Twilight gently tucked him into his sleeping basket, being very careful not to wake him up. "Goodnight Spike." she said sweetly as he continued to snore. "Sweet dreams, my number one assistant."

But as she made her way downstairs, Twilight couldn't help but feel a little guilty. "I honestly don't know what I would do without him.", she said to herself. "But he works so hard for me sometimes... He barely has any free time for himself... Besides, he's a baby dragon, and he needs his rest..." She had to find a way to lighten his workload. But how?

Sitting down at her desk, Twilight began writing her latest report on the meteor shower by candlelight. "The Study of Comets.", she said aloud as she wrote. "Comets are small, irregularly shaped bodies that are made of nonvolatile grains and frozen gases. They..."

Suddenly, a loud creaking sound caused Twilight to jump, and as she looked behind her to see what it was, she thought she saw a dark shadow fly past the door leading to the balcony.

However, as she made her way outside, Twilight found nothing out of the ordinary. "Huh?", she said, puzzled as she headed back inside, and closed the door behind her, not realizing that it had not latched. Returning to her desk, Twilight continued to write.

"...have body structures that are fragile and diverse..."

Then, she heard the creaking sound again, and this time, it had come from the window directly above her desk. Twilight opened it, and looked out, when suddenly, a gust of cold night wind blew into the room, causing the paper she'd been writing to fly off her desk.

"Shoot!", Twilight muttered as she tried to chase her paper. But then, the wind blew the unlatched balcony door open, and she could only watch helplessly as the paper flew off into the night sky. At that moment, Twilight could have kicked herself for not thinking to grab it with her magic. Twilight ran back inside, not seeing the dark shadow fly after her report.

"Oh...this is a job for Spike.", she said, nervously bouncing on her hooves. "If only he were awake...!"

"Hoo!"

Turning in the direction of the sound, Twilight saw an owl perched on top of her desk with her scroll clutched in it's beak. Placing the scroll down on the desk, the owl turned to leave.

"Wait! Don't go!", Twilight said, and the owl turned it's head around to look at her. "Don't be afraid. Thank you for returning my scroll."

The owl turned the rest of it's body around to face her, when suddenly the wind blew the window by again.

"Hoo-Hoo! Hoo-Hoo!", the owl hooted, shivering from the cold.

"Gosh, it's cold tonight.", Twilight said. She didn't feel right sending the owl back out in the cold. "Say, would you like to relax in here and keep me company while I work?"

"Hoo! Hoo!", the owl replied as it jumped off the window sill to perch on a nearby hat rack.

Smiling, Twilight picked up her quill to continue her writing. "Now where was I? Oh yes! ...fragile and diverse with a surrounding cloud of material called a coma, that grows in size and brightness as the comet approaches the sun..."

Suddenly, Twilight got a great idea. She looked at the owl, and her smile grew wider. Yes, it was perfect. She had found the perfect way to lighten Spike's workload. In fact, she decided right then and there to even let him sleep in tomorrow...

* * *

The next morning, Spike was still asleep in his basket, when he suddenly awoke with a start as the rays of Celestia's sun came shining through the window.

"Huh? Waah! I overslept!", he exclaimed as he jumped out of bed, and looked at his alarm clock. Spike raced downstairs to find Twilight packing some things into her saddle bags.

"Oh, Spike. Good to see you're awake.", she said.

But Spike was too worked up to notice. "Oh please don't be upset, Twilight!", he pleaded. "I know it's already ten, but I'm bright-eyed and scaly-tailed, and ready to work twice as fast! And what do you want for breakfast? Oatmeal? How about a sunflower smoothie? Grass pancakes?"

"Spike, don't worry.", Twilight smiled reassuringly. "I have to go out. I'll just grab something in town."

"But what about my morning chores?", he asked frantically.

"They've already been taken care of, Spike. Owlowiscious did them for you", Twilight replied.

"Who?", Spike blinked, confused. He'd never heard the name before.

"He's our new junior assistant.", Twilight explained, "He's gonna help out with your chores so you won't be so tired all the time."

Twilight's words suddenly made Spike feel very uneasy. He didn't like the sound of "junior assistant". "Wha... Wh... What do we need a junior assistant for? I can do fine on my own. I don't need...".

"Spike, don't worry. He's just here to help out a little.", Twilight said. "Now, I have to go, so why don't you introduce yourself to Owlowiscious? He's in the library."

"Well, okay, I guess..." Spike gulped. He wasn't sure that he was really looking forward to meeting this "Owlowiscious".

Making his way into the room where Twilight said "Owlowiscious" was waiting, Spike found the owl sitting on Twilight's desk. "Hello?, he greeted nervously.

"Owlowiscious" slowly spun his head around to face Spike. "Hoo." he greeted back.

"Uh... Hi there! W...Welcome to the Golden Oak Library...", Spike said, flinching. Was it just him, or was this owl kind of creepy? "I'm Spike. I'm sure Twilight's told you all about me."

"Hoo.", Owlowiscious hooted in reply.

"Uh, Spike?", the dragon repeated, "You know, Twilight's number one assistant?"

"Hoo.", the owl repeated again.

Spike was starting to get annoyed. "I said my name is...", and then it finally hit him. "Oh, right... You're an owl...", he said, embarrassed.

"Hoo hoo."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Twilight says you're here to help out.", Spike said seriously. "Well, just so you know, I've been her assistant far longer than you have, so don't get any ideas about trying to take my place!"

"Hoo?", Owlowiscious hooted in surprise.

"I'm not accusing you of anything. I'm just saying that I don't need competition...", Spike snorted.

"Hoo!", Owlowisicious said crossly, sounding rather offended.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry..." Spike apologized. "I didn't mean to be rude. I'm just not used to this... But... I'm sure we'll get along just fine Owlowiscious."

"Hoo hoo!" Owlowiscious hooted happily.

"Glad you understand. Whadya say we shake on it?", Spike replied, holding out his left claw.

"Hoo?", Owlowiscious seemed confused.

"Just hold out your wing..." Spike instructed.

Owlowiscious did so, and Spike showed the owl how to shake. After that, Owlowiscious turned his head back around to the front. But as Spike walked away, he still felt pretty uneasy.

"Come on, Spike. You've got nothing to worry about.", Spike said to himself "Fussy Feathers over there isn't going to take your job. In a matter of time things will go back to normal, and you'll still be Twilight's number one assistant."

However, it wouldn't be long until before Owlowiscious started to make Spike jealous...

* * *

Later, Spike was sitting on the stairs reading a book about owls, trying to learn more about them, when he suddenly heard laughter outside of the library. Opening a nearby window, Spike saw that Twilight was busy showing off Owlowiscious to the rest of the pony gang. The girls were gushing over the owl, rather excessively so, and despite trying his best to befriend Owlowiscious earlier, Spike couldn't help but feel rather anxious about all of this.

"Oh, what a fantastical, flufflicious feathery little friend!", Pinkie Pie said, "I'm... Hooked!" Everypony laughed at her joke.

"He's just wonderful.", Fluttershy added.

"Uh, yeah... Wonderful. He's a real charmer...", Spike said from the window, a bit uneasily, before quickly adding, "But so is Spike, right?" But the girls didn't hear him, his voice apparently drowned out by their chatter and laughter.

"Girls, did you hear me?", Spike said louder, trying to get their attention. "Umm, girls, up here!"

But the girls still didn't take notice of him, as all of their attention was fixed on Owlowiscious. This alone would probably have been enough to make Spike feel worried and left out, but then, he saw Rarity walk up to Owlowiscious, and his eyes widened as she held up a bow that looked exactly like the one that she gave Spike just last night.

"Owlowiscious is just such a star that I just had to make this little bow for you.", Rarity said as she presented the bow to the owl.

The sight left Spike utterly shocked, and he suddenly felt a jolt of fear in his chest, a feeling that quickly turned to anger. Letting out a growl of frustration, Spike stormed back into the library, slamming the window shut behind him. Unbeknowst to Spike, the girls had finally heard him, and looked up just in time to see him slam the window shut.

"What was that all about?", Twilight asked.

"Maybe... Spike is a little jealous of Owlowiscious...", Rainbow Dash observed.

Rarity suddenly felt a pang of guilt as she realized the implications of what she'd done by giving Owlowiscious the exact same bow that she'd given to Spike the night before right in front of the young dragon's face.

"I'm sorry.", she said, bowing her head, "That was rather thoughtless of me."

"Huh?", Twilight said, puzzled.

"Spike may feel threatened or worried that Owlowiscious will replace him.", Fluttershy said, clearly concerned.

"Replace him?!", Twilight said incredulously, "Hah! That's crazy!"

"Are ya sure about that, Twilight?", Applejack asked.

"Of course! Spike knows he can't be replaced!", Twilight assured.

But Twilight had no idea just how wrong she was, because back inside the library, Spike's fears were rapidly getting the better of him.

"They're trying to replace me!," he cried, before slapping himself across the face. "Snap out of it, Spike! Twilight would never do that to you. Would she?"

But no matter how much Spike tried to reassure himself, his fears would not go away.

"I better step it up and make sure that Twilight and Owlowiscious know that I'm still number one!"

* * *

Later that day, Twilight came into the library, and sat down at her desk again. "Spike!", she called out, "Can you fetch me that old book called Two Headed Mythlogical Mysteries?"

"I'm on it!", Spike replied.

Using a ladder and a small stack of books, Spike climbed up to where the book was located on the bookshelf...only to find an empty slot.

"Thanks Owlowiscious.", Twilight said, causing Spike to look back at her, and to his annoyance, he saw that Owlowiscious had already gotten her the book. "Nevermind, Spike. Owlowiscious already flew up and got the book for me. Oh, and gee! I guess I need "Ferrets of Fairyland" too."

Owlowiscious promptly flew up and grabbed that book as well, from the very stack of books that Spike was standing on, causing the little dragon to lose his balance on the ladder.

"Hey! Whoa! Whoa!"

"Spike, climb down from there before you fall", Twilight said, not even bothering to look at him, until a loud thud caused her to jump, and she looked back to see that the ladder had fallen down, leaving Spike hanging onto the bookshelf.

"Little help...?", he groaned.

Twilight quickly used her magic to lower Spike safely onto the floor. "You need to be more careful, Spike."

"_I_ need to be more...?!", Spike began, incredulous.

"Well, it's a good thing Owlowiscious is here.", Twilight interrupted. "Thanks to him, you don't have to climb up and down the ladder to get books for me anymore."

While Twilight had meant for this to be a good thing, she didn't notice that her words had actually stung her longtime assistant. "Yeah... great...", Spike muttered, glaring at Owlowiscious.

* * *

The next day, Twilight was busy writing notes down on a scroll, when suddenly there was a loud snap! "Shoot!", Twilight complained.

"What is it, Twilight?" Spike asked, coming to her side as soon as he'd heard her groan of frustration.

"My writing quill just broke." Twilight explained, holding up the broken quill to emphasize her point.

"Never fear! Spike, your number one assistant, is here!", Spike replied eagerly, and he ran to the drawer where they kept the spare quills, only to find it completely empty. "Empty? Uh, we must be out."

"Darn it!", Twilight said. "I need to get this report done today."

"Don't you worry, Twilight.", Spike assured. "I'll go get some new quills in town!"

Grabbing a few bits, Spike ran out of the library, and into Ponyville.

Before long, he came to a store owned by Davenport called "Quills and Sofas", as those were the only two things it sold. Unfortunately, it had to be today of all days that the store was out of what Spike needed.

"But the store is called 'Quills and Sofas'. You only sell two things!", he complained to Davenport.

"Sorry, junior.", Davenport replied. "All outta quills until Monday. Need a sofa?"

Groaning in frustrastion, Spike stomped away to look somewhere else. "Where am I gonna get a quill?", he asked himself.

Next, Spike found himself standing outside Sugarcube Corner talking to Pinkie Pie.

"I swore I had one somewhere. Ah, here it is! A quince.", Pinke said, tossing the pear-shaped fruit at Spike's feet.

"Not a quince.", Spike said, kicking the fruit away. "A quill!"

"Right. A quail?", Pinkie asked as the bird fluttered around Spike's head.

"A quilt? A quesadilla?", she asked, with the quilt smacking Spike in the face, and the quesadilla spattering on the sidewalk.

"Aha! A quiche", Pinkie said, tossing the topless pie with a fork stuck in it into Spike's claws.

"Not a quiche, a QUILL!", Spike said, quite irritated.

"Nope, sorry. All outta quills.", Pinkie said apologetically (but still happily).

"Ah, shoot...", Spike muttered, before taking a bite of the quiche, and walking away.

Finally, Spike found himself at Sweet Apple Acres chasing after a chicken for one of it's feathers. "Come on, chicken!", he called out. "Here, chicky-chicky-chicky! Here, chick-chick-chick-chicky!"

"Come here!", Spike said angrily as he chased the chicken into the coop, before running straight into the wall, which then came crashing down with Spike on top of it. Grunting angrily, Spike quickly got back to his feet to continue the chase.

"Come here!", Spike said again as he leapt, and tackled the chicken, which led to big fight between the two of them in a big cloud of dust. "Not the face, not the face! No! Hey! Stop! Quit it!"

At last, the chicken left the dust cloud unharmed, leaving a battered and bruised Spike on the ground, until a single feather floated down into his claw. His mission accomplished, Spike got back to his feet, and ran back to the library as fast they could carry him.

Spike burst back through the door of the Golden Oak Library, the new quill he'd gotten for Twilight from the chicken in his hand. "Spike... to the rescue", he panted, exhausted from his search.

"Thank you, Spike. But that won't be necessary after all.", Twilight said.

"What?", Spike asked, confused, but then he saw the new quill that she was holding up to show him. It was brown instead of red, but other than that, it looked exactly like the one before it.

"Owlowiscious was kind enough to give me one of his feathers to use as a quill.", Twilight explained.

Spike's frustration and anger burned, and the chicken feather that he'd busted his tail to get for Twilight literally burst into flame in his claw. He was sick of Owlowiscious always doing his job for him. "That's just great. Perfect! Sweet!", he said sarcastically, "I guess I'll just, uh... finish up the rest of my chores! Or did Owlowiscious already do them?"

"Oh, no no. There are quite a lot of them.", Twilight said.

"Well, that's fine...", Spike grumbled, and got to work, muttering all the way through. By the time he was finished, he was so exhausted from the events of the day that he fell asleep only moments after he crawled into bed. But just before he dozed off, Spike, in spite his jealousy, couldn't help but wonder if maybe he was just overreacting. Maybe he was being too hard on Owlowiscious...

* * *

The next morning, Spike was suddenly awoken from his sleep by a loud thud. "Huh?", he mumbled as he opened his eyes, and to his horror, found himself looking at the charred remains of the Astronomical Astronomer's Almanac to All Things Astronomy, and Twilight with a very stern look on her face. Spike's heart sank, and he gulped as he realized what was coming.

"Spike, what is this?", Twilight asked angrily, "You said this book was missing. Well, Owlowiscious found it right where it belongs, but like this. How did it get this way?"

"Uh... Well, um... You see, I...", Spike stammered, "I just didn't wanna disappoint you and, uh... Have you ever seen a dragon sneeze?

Twilight glared at Spike. "I've certainly seen a dragon lie.", she scolded, "I'm very disappointed in you, Spike..."

Twilight walked away, leaving Spike alone with his thoughts. Sadly, Spike sank back into his basket; few things hurt him more than Twilight being upset with him. He wondered if she wouldn't trust him anymore. But before long, his sadness faded, and his anger, and frustration from the previous day returned. Any second thoughts that he'd had the previous night about Owlowiscious were suddenly forgotten.

"First Owlowiscious takes over my job, and now he's reporting me to the Twilight police?", Spike grumbled. Spike was at his wits end with that owl, but at the same time, a resolve filled his being. He had to do something. He was not going to let that owl take his place if it was the last thing he did. He had to make it up to Twilight, and he had to prove to her that he was still her #1 assistant. He had to prove it to her, and he had to prove it to Owlowiscious.

"I'll show them.", Spike said, determined, "I'll show them both."

"Hoo...", Owlowiscious hooted from his perch in the corner of the room.

"Who?! You and Twilight!", Spike said, irritated.

"Hoo...", the owl hooted again.

"Urgh!", Spike groaned, and stomped away.

* * *

Later, Spike stood alone in the library. Twilight had gone into town, and had taken Owlowiscious with her, leaving Spike behind. A part of Spike couldn't help but wonder if this was meant to be a punishment for his lying about burning her book, but he ultimately decided that it was just as well. If Owlowiscious wasn't here, then he couldn't do his job for him. In fact, Spike planned on going several extra miles; not only was he going to clean the library like never before, he was going to do everything that needed to be done in this place.

By the time Twilight, and Owlowiscious got back, there wasn't going to be a single chore left to do. Spike surveyed his surroundings; he'd never done so much work in such a short period of time before. It was definitely not going to be easy, but it was going to be worth it, because it was going to prove, once and for all, that he, Spike the dragon, was and always would be Twilight Sparkle's #1 assistant, and there was nothing that was ever going to change that!

"Well, I guess I'd better get started.", Spike said to himself, and promptly got to work.

For the next two hours, Spike swept the floor, washed the windows, took out the trash, organized all the books, and every other chore he could think of. In the end, he'd been absolutely right. It had definately not been easy, and by the time he was finished, he was exhausted, but in spite of that, he felt good. The library literally sparkled; Spike didn't think it had ever been this clean before.

"Spike...", he said to himself as he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, "You have outdone yourself. If this doesn't show Twilight that I'm still her #1 assistant, nothing will!"

But as he surveyed his work, Spike noticed a book lying on the floor by one of the bookcases, which had an empty slot on one of it's upper shelves.

"Hmm, this must have fallen off the shelf." Spike guessed as he picked the book up.

Retrieving the ladder, Spike climbed up the bookshelf to put the book back in it's proper place. But before he could do so, he noticed that the book was incredibly dusty, and without thinking, blew the dust off the cover. Then, Spike's nose began to twitch, and he suddenly realized his mistake.

"Oh no! Not again!", Spike cried as he desperately tried to angle the sneeze away from the book, but he was too late, and a large gout of green flames shot out of his mouth, incinerating the book in his hands. To make the situation worse, the force of the sneeze had knocked him backwards into one of the bookcases, knocking it over, and sending it crashing into another bookcase, knocking it over as well, and sending it crashing into another bookcase...

Within moments, the domino effect had taken hold, with every bookcase on the left side of the library being knocked over. And just for good measure, the last bookcase fell onto the edge of a table, flipping it over, and sending a globe flying through the air to hit the first bookcase on the other side of the library, knocking it over as well to repeat process on that end.

Within moments, all of Spike's hard work was undone...

* * *

However, things were about to get even worse, for it was right at that moment, that Twilight, with Owlowiscious perched on her back, finally returned to the library. The sight that met her when she opened the front door to the library would shock her to the core.

Every bookcase in the library had been knocked over, their contents spilled out all over the floor, with the charred remains of one book in particular catching her eye. Not only that, but on the left side of the library, one of the fallen bookcases had flipped over a table, spilling it's contents onto the floor as well, while on the right side of library, another bookcase had knocked over a desk.

And sitting in the center of the whole mess, was Spike, who was rubbing his head.

"SPIKE!", Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs.

As the Spike's eyes met hers, a look of horror spread across the young dragon's face. Suddenly, Spike felt himself being picked up by Twilight's magic, and dropped on the floor right in front of her.

"What happend?!", Twilight demanded, looking as if she were about blow a fuse.

"I, uh... I was... I was just...", Spike stammered.

"Out with it, Spike!", Twilight snapped, causing him to flinch. "I want to know how this happend! And I want to know now!"

"I... I-I was cleaning the libary and... I sneezed... again.", Spike managed to say.

"You SNEEZED?!", Twilight asked, incredulously.

"It was an accident... I fell into one of the bookcases and..."

"What in the name of Celestia, Spike?!", Twilight cried, shaking her head.

"I... I just wanted to make it up to you for earlier, and to show you that I was still your #1 assistant...", Spike said miserably.

"Well, let's see here...", Twilight said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "First, you burn one of my books, and lie to me about it. Then, I leave you alone for a little while, and you burn another one of my books, and destroy half the library! I'd say that you've done a terrific job!"

Spike was at a loss for words.

"I am truly disappointed, Spike. How do I know that I can trust you, after all this?"

"I'm sorry...", Spike felt like he was going to cry.

"Maybe I should have Owlowiscious watch you from now on until you can prove that you can stay out of trouble!"

At the mentioning of Owlowiscious, as well as the prospect of him becoming Spike's minder, Spike's frustrations finally boiled over, and at last, he snapped.

"What?! No! No! That's it! I've had it!", Spike yelled.

"Spike, don't...", Twilight started to say, shocked at his outburst, but Spike didn't let her finish.

"All you care about is that stupid owl! 'Owlowiscious did this. Owlowiscious did that. Owlowiscious is so helpful. Owlowiscious is so wonderful.' That's all I hear from you anymore!", Spike ranted, "That's all I've heard from you ever since he showed up! And I'm sick of it! I mean, is that the only reason you even keep me around here anymore?! So you can rub Owlowiscious in my face?!"

"N-No... I..." Twilight stammered, unable to believe what she just heard. " How can you say that, Spike...?"

"How? Oh, I don't know...", Spike said crossly, "Maybe it's because ever since you hired Owlowiscious, I've been busting my tail trying to do my job for you, and he keeps doing it for me! Or maybe it's because ever since you hired Owlowiscious, you've only cared about him! It's like nothing that I do matters to you anymore!"

"That-That's not true, Spike!", Twilight said, "Owlowiscious is not here to take your place!"

"Well apparently, he didn't get the message! And neither did I!", Spike retorted angrily, "But what difference does it make anyway? All that matters is that you have somepony to boss around, and tell what to do."

Twilight felt as if she had been slapped across the face hard enough to give her a reality check. "Spike... If I did anything to..."

"Just forget it!", Spike yelled as he stormed upstairs, leaving a shocked Twilight behind.

For a long moment, Twilight just stood there, staring after Spike, and absorbing every word that he had said to her. She couldn't believe what had just happend. Spike had never raised his voice at her before. Ever. In fact, she couldn't even remember the last time that he'd actually been angry with her. At first Twilight didn't know what to think; her mind was a rush of emotions, a mixture of anger, hurt, bewilderment, guilt, and worry.

But in the end, her feelings of guilt, and worry would prevail over the others, because now she knew that something was seriously wrong. And as Spike's words, and behavior sank in, the reality of the situation finally dawned on Twilight as she remembered what her friends had said earlier about Spike being jealous of Owlowiscious, and afraid that he was being replaced. Twilight had not taken their concerns seriously, and had just laughed them off, insisting that Spike knew he couldn't be replaced.

Twilight hung her head in guilt; apparently, she had been very wrong...

* * *

It would be several hours until Twilight finally decided to try to talk to Spike. They both needed time to cool off, and reflect on their actions. In the meantime, Twilight, with Owlowiscious' help, had managed to set all of the bookcases (as well as the table & desk) back up, and reorganize all the books, making the library at least somewhat orderly again. It had been hard work, and was not even close to perfect, but it would have to do for now.

Twilight had had several hours to reflect on her and Spike's actions over the past few days, and the more she thought about it, the clearer the picture became. She also realized how clear it should have been all along. The signs had all been right in front of her face.

Spike had seemed worried when she'd hired Owlowiscious, and he became increasingly frustrated whenever he tried to do a job for her, only for Owlowiscious to do it first. She and the girls had showered Owlowiscious with attention, and had not only left Spike out of it, but had even given the owl the exact same bowtie that he'd recieved during the meteor shower, right in front of the young dragon's face no less. And when an understandably hurt Spike had stormed back inside, her friends all voiced their concerns that Spike feared that he was being replaced, but Twilight had just laughed it off.

How could she have been so clueless? So insensitive?

She'd had only the best of intentions in mind when she'd hired Owlowiscious as her junior assistant, but now she realized that she really hadn't considered Spike's feelings in the matter. She should have cleared things with him first, but instead, she had rather foolishly just assumed that he would understand.

And today, to top it all off, she had scolded Spike rather harshly for accidentally burning one of her books, and then lying to her about it, and had done so again when he'd accidentally burned another one of her books, and wrecked the library.

Thinking back on those two moments, Twilight felt another pang of guilt as she started to feel that she'd been too hard on him. The burning of the books, and the wrecking of the library had been an accident, and he'd only been trying to help. The library was mostly fixed now, and Twilight was sure that she could just ask Princess Celestia for another copy of the two ruined books.

And yes, he shouldn't have lied to her about burning the first book, but she was begining to understand why he did it. Spike was as devoted to pleasing her as she was to pleasing Princess Celestia, and as much as she hated to admit it, she did have a tendency to overreact.

Besides, it had happend just before they'd left to watch the meteor shower which she had very much been looking forward to. Maybe Spike didn't want to dampen her mood for the occasion. Maybe he had meant to tell her later on, but had forgotten about it when Owlowisicous arrived. Either way, she shouldn't have been so hard on him. He was only a baby dragon after all.

In any case, her scoldings had proved to be the last straw for Spike, and he finally blew up at her. And ultimately, Twilight really couldn't blame him, not after everything that had happend. She could no longer deny the fact she'd taken him for granted, and this wasn't the first time either. She could only hope that it wasn't too late to fix this.

By now, it was well into the evening, and darkness had fallen. Spike had been up on the rooftop obseratory ever since their fight, and still showed no signs of coming back down; by now, Twilight was really starting to get worried about him. She couldn't put this off any longer.

Pausing at the bottom of the stairs, Twilight took a deep breath, before climbing them up to the rooftop...

* * *

As she came out onto the roof, Twilight found Spike leaning on the railing with his back to her, staring into off into the darkness, and making no sign that he'd noticed her presence.

"Spike...", Twilight said as gently as she could.

Spike's shoulders sagged at the sound of her voice, but he made no other response.

"Are you all right...?", Twilight asked.

For an agonizingly long moment, Spike remained silent, and Twilight started to think that he wasn't going to anwser her, until finally, she heard him say, "...no... ...not really..."

Twilight hesitated at the sound of the Spike's voice. He sounded so... depressed.

"Do you... want to talk about it?", Twilight asked.

Spike didn't respond.

"Spike, please..." Twilight implored. "You can talk to me. We need to work this out."

"What does it matter?", Spike asked.

"Because I'm worried about you...", Twilight said.

"Oh, really?", Spike said bitterly. "Don't you have more important things to worry about than me? Because you always do. And besides, you have Owlowiscious to worry about now."

"Spike...", Twilight breathed.

"But maybe that's a good thing.", Spike continued, his voice now turning sad. "Maybe you were right to hire him. Because ever since he showed up, he's been doing a better job than I ever have, and I've just been messing things up. Maybe I was just too afraid to admit that he's your #1 assistant now... And that you don't need me anymore..."

Twilight felt tears stream down her face. Before she realized it, she'd leapt forward and hugged the little dragon with all her might.

"No, Spike...", Twilight said, refusing to end the embrace. "I will ALWAYS need you. I know that I don't always show it, but I care about you, Spike. I care about you more than you realize. It's just that sometimes I get so wrapped up in my studies that I don't realize how I'm treating you. I know that's no excuse... I know that now more than ever, but I want you to know that I never meant to hurt you..."

"What are you saying, Twilight?", Spike asked.

"That I love you, Spike.", Twilight said, "Because you're more than just my #1 assistant. You are my family. You always have been, and you always will be. Ever since the day you were hatched, you've held a special place in my heart, and that's something that will never change. No one could ever replace you, Spike, and don't you ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

Once again, there was a long moment of silence that seemed to last forever. Spike said nothing, and just stood there, as if he was pondering everything she had said. Eventually, Twilight let go of him, and sadly started to walk away.

"Wait...", Spike's voice came behind her. "Don't go..."

Twilight turned back to see Spike coming toward her; he looked as though he'd been crying, and the sight nearly broke her heart.

"I'm sorry, Twilight.", Spike apologized. "I never should've been so jealous of Owlowiscious, and I shouldn't have said what I said."

"I'm sorry to, Spike. I should've been more sensitive.", Twilight replied. "And I shouldn't have hired Owlowiscious as a junior assistant without asking you how you felt about it first. It's just that you're a baby dragon, and you need your rest. I hired Owlowiscious so that you wouldn't have to work so hard for me all the time, and so you'd have more free time to yourself."

Spike looked up at her, somewhat confused. "Well, why didn't you just say that in the first place? We could've avoided this whole problem."

"I thought that you knew...", Twilight confessed, before letting out a sigh as another wave of guilt washed over her. "I'm sorry, Spike. This whole mess was my fault. I should've taken your feelings into account. The girls even tried to tell me that you might be worried, but I didn't listen. You were right to be upset. Can you forgive me? I've been awful..."

"Don't say that.", Spike said intently. "You may not be perfect, but ever since day one, you've been there for me like nopony else has. I admit that sometimes you can be a little difficult, but I could never hate you, Twilight, because like you said, you're more than just a friend, you're family... Besides, this whole mess was kinda my fault to. I should have told you how I felt, but instead I just kept it all inside until I couldn't take it anymore, and I ended up saying some things I shouldn't have... Things that... I didn't mean..."

"We both said, and did things that we regret, Spike", Twilight replied. "But I meant every word when I said that you were family to me."

"So did I.", Spike replied.

"So you forgive me?", Twilight asked, hopefully.

"Do you forgive me?", Spike asked in turn.

"Of course.", they both said in unision before happily embracing each other in another hug.

"Hoo Hoo!" Owlowiscious hooted happily, having watched everything from his perch on the railing. It was so touching to see Twilight, and Spike make up, and reaffirm their feelings for each other.

"And Owlowiscious...", Spike said, approaching the owl. "I'm sorry that I got so jealous of you. I should've realized that you weren't trying to take my job. Do you forgive me?"

"Hoo!", the bird replied in the affirmative.

"Really?", Spike asked.

"Hoo!", Owlowiscious hooted again.

"Thanks. I'm glad.", the young dragon said.

Feeling as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Spike turned back towards Twilight to see the lavender unicorn smiling warmly, and the two embraced one another again, with Owlowiscious soon joining them in a group hug.

* * *

A short while later, Twilight, and Spike were getting ready to write a friendship report to Princess Celestia.

"I know Princess Celestia will wanna read about what happend today...", Twilight said.

"I'm ready when you are.", Spike replied.

Twilight was just about to start, when suddenly, a thought came to her.

"You know, Spike...", Twilight said. "I think we've both learned a very important lesson about friendship. Why don't we both write to Princess Celestia, together?"

"You really think so?", Spike asked.

"I do, Spike", Twilight nodded.

And so, for the first time, Twilight and Spike began to write their friendship report to Princess Celestia together.

"Dear Princess Celestia...", Twilight began. "While Spike and I have had a bit of a rough time these past few days, it has given us both the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson about friendship. For one thing, I've learned that it's important to pay attention to your friend's feelings, and to reassure them if they are feeling down or troubled. If you ignore your friend's feelings, you might end up giving them the wrong idea, and they may feel that they are being taken for granted, which will only upset them more."

"But it's also important to remember...", Spike continued, "...that if there is something bothering you, you don't have to keep it to yourself. Keeping it all bottled up inside will only make you feel worse, and when you eventually do let it all out, you might say or do something that you'll regret. If you feel like you are being mistreated or taken for granted, you should speak up for yourself, and let your friend know how you feel, because a good friend will realize their mistakes, and try to make up for them."

"Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, and her #1 assistant, Spike.", they finished together.

Rolling the letter into a scroll, Spike promptly headed over to an open window to send the letter to Princess Celestia, when suddenly, he felt the urge to sneeze again. "Ah... Ahh... Ahhh... Ahhhh...!" But thankfully, Owlowiscious quickly flew over to Spike, and placed his wing under the young dragon's nose; before long, the urge to sneeze went away.

"Thanks, Owlowiscious.", Spike said in grateful relief.

"Hoo!", Owlowiscious hooted.

Spike smiled at his new friend, and then used his flame breath to send the letter on it's way to Canterlot.

"Say Spike, how about I give you the day off tomorrow?", Twilight offered.

"Really?!", Spike was shocked.

"In fact...", Twilight continued, "...how about we both take the day off tomorrow?"

Now, Spike wasn't sure if he was hearing Twilight right. Twilight had not taken a day off from her studies since... Actually, he wasn't sure if she'd ever taken a day off from her studies. "Twilight... Are you feeling okay?"

Twilight couldn't help but giggle at Spike's reaction. "Yup. I want to spend some time with you, Spike. It's about time the two of us had some fun together."

"You really mean it? You'd do that for me?", Spike asked excitedly.

"Hey, it's the least I could do to make up for all the times I haven't treated you right.", Twilight said. "Now whaddya say we call it a night, and get some sleep? It's been a long day for the both of us, and we'll want to get a fresh start tomorrow."

"Are you kidding?", Spike was ecstatic, "I couldn't possibly go to bed now! I feel so good that could stay awake all night, and finish-"

But Spike didn't get to finish the sentence, because before he knew it, he'd slumped to the floor, and fallen asleep.

"Oh, Spike...", Twilight said, amused.

"Hoo...", Owlowiscious hooted.

"Who?", Twilight said, confused. "Spike! You kno... Ohhhh..."

Twilight giggled as she realized her mistake, before picking up Spike with her magic, and heading upstairs to put him to bed. As he watched her go, Owlowiscious turned his head around, and winked. The owl was glad that all had turned out well in the end...

* * *

END


End file.
